


Dearest Daughter

by Dr_Chalk



Category: One Piece
Genre: Character Study, Gen, I hate Judge with every fiber of my being, Sanji and Sora are mentioned, This whole fic is Reiju experiencing max stress, Whole Cake Island Arc Spoilers, this is not a happy family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-29 22:21:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20803919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Chalk/pseuds/Dr_Chalk
Summary: In which Reiju deals with the consequences of letting Sanji go free.





	Dearest Daughter

The ticking of the clock rang loudly in her ears, the only sound echoing within the stone brick walls of the isolated room. The plush seat she sat on felt cold and solid, everything feeling like sharp rocks under Judge’s gorgon gaze.

She knew why she had been called here. She knew why Judge was sitting across from her in this private room, no guards to be seen by his side. Just the two of them in this lavish room, catching up on missed out father-daughter bonding time.

Yeah, right. She doubted that.

Judge rustled in his seat, and Reiju too adjusted her position minutely.

“Sanji is a failure,” Judge started. An unrivaled icebreaker, forever a favorite of Judge’s. 

“Yes father,” she replied, an automated response easy to roll past her tongue.

“You know Sanji is weak,” he continued, and Reiju nodded, not daring to look anywhere but into her father’s eyes.

“Yes father. He is.”

“So tell me,” her father questioned, “How did a weakling like him bend the iron bars and escape? How did he have the time or brains to discover where the key to his iron mask was?”

Reiju’s smile widened. It too, became stiff like rocks. 

Judge’s eyes narrowed slightly in what looked like disappointment. She was guessing it was.

“I will not beat around the bush. I called you here for a reason, and as for that reason, well. It’s rather obvious, is it not.” Her father stood up, his pupils zeroing in on Reiju’s own.

It was obvious, and she knew. She knew why she was here. Her heart was going to beat out of her chest and burst through the steel that was her flesh because she knew, she knew so clearly.

“I recognize I never gave orders to any of you children on freeing Sanji. However, I did not raise you to have flawed judgement. You should have been able to realize he was kept there for a reason. So why did you free him, Reiju?”

She felt like a prisoner being interrogated, in this room with nobody but her and her father. Deep down she knew he would not raise that spear clutched in his hands at her, but how did that knowledge help when she knew he could do worse?

So much, so much worse?

_ She leaned against the wall of the hallway, watching her mother scream and thrash as soldiers dragged her away. Her sweet and gentle mother’s eyes were the ones of a hostile wounded animal, and Reiju knew mother would be clawing her way through the soldiers with her pristine fingernails had she been capable of it.  _

_ She was given the present of four brothers a few months later, and three of them grew up to be the worst gifts she had ever received. _

Reiju politely placed her hands on her knees like the prissy royalty she knew her father wanted her to be, and formed her face into a petulant pout befitting Niji.

“Sanji was loud. He was noisy and annoying all of the time, and when I was in a room near the dungeon I could never concentrate.” The words were flowing like smooth sand through her teeth. “Ever since the boys started beating on him again, Sanji has been an even worse crybaby, and I thought that if we dumped him in the East Blue we would never have to deal with him ever again.”

She was lying. She wanted to deal with Sanji. She wanted to deal with Sanji all the time, the last piece of her angelic mother in this godforsaken world. She wanted to patch him up and hear him cry like a human being, she wanted to wrap bandages around skin that didn’t feel like iron. 

Judge nodded, and sat back down in his chair. The spear was now lain horizontally across his lap, and he leaned forward slightly before saying with utmost certainty:

“You’re lying.”

The petulant pout was immediately and reflexively replaced with a smile, one she knew looked fake and defensive and oh no, she should really fix it so that it looks more natural. Or maybe she never should have smiled at all, maybe she should have kept that bratty expression on for a little longer. Should have made it look indignant, as if she could not believe that a father would not trust his daughter.

She wouldn’t have trusted her either.

“Sora didn’t have the chance to get to the boys,” Judge declared, and she felt something burn behind the smile at the fact that this  _ piece of garbage _ dared to utter her precious mother’s name, “But she did get to you.”

Reiju did not nod. She simply stared at Judge because breaking eye contact meant admittance and failure, and neither would be tolerated. One not to herself, the other not to Judge.

Judge eventually let out a sigh, and leaned back into the cushion of his lavish seat. He held Reiju’s stare, reciprocating it: a battle of no words they both knew they were participating in, but refused to address.

“Reiju,” Judge said, “You are not a failure.”

“Yes, father.”

She knew she wasn’t, that much was a fact. Her scores were perfect. Her marks were better than Niji’s and Yonji’s, she was on par with Ichiji in all aspects. She was her father’s ideal soldier in all facets.

All facets, except for one. The single marred area in Judge’s otherwise perfect project, a welcomed blemish of her mother’s making.

“You are not a failure, Reiju. But going against my wishes will make you into one. You know that, don’t you?”

_ “You know that, don’t you?” _

_ And that was all it took to have Sanji crying his eyes out, tears sliding through brown rust and wetting his neck. Don’t ever admit that I’m your father, you are the one thing I’m ashamed of, the single stain in my perfect life. You know that, don’t you?  _

_ Discreetly, Reiju cried too. _

“Yes, father.”

“You would have known that I wanted Sanji down there and away. And while I cannot say I am unhappy about him no longer being within the Germa kingdom, I am not willing to risk potential disobedience from you in the future.”

She felt the inside of her stomach freeze over in anticipation of what was sure to come next, because it was obvious, was it not? This was what it had all been leading up to.

“Modifications will have to be made,” Judge spoke, and her stomach gave away to the weight of the ice and sunk, “To prevent this from happening again. So that you will not go against my wishes.”

She wanted to reply  _ Yes, father,  _ but her voice was refusing to comply, vocal chords suddenly as metallic and unyielding as her skin.

Reiju barely suppressed a flinch when a giant hand landed on her head, patting her pink hair with affection. Not parental affection, but the kind of affection a collector would give to his most prized items. She only knew how to distinguish between the two thanks to the sample her mother had provided for comparison. 

It terrified her, knowing that she would think the two of them alike had her mother not been there to show her the difference.

“You are my dearest daughter,” Judge said. “And I speak the truth when I say I do not want you to be lowered to the level of that weak, lazy ingrate.”

The hand removed itself from her head, and suddenly everything seemed off kilter, dizzying, horrible, nauseating--

“The modifications will be implemented tomorrow,” Judge announced, somehow already at the exit. He pushed the door open, looked back, and smiled at Reiju.

“I love you,” Judge lied.

Reiju nodded, offering him her most brilliant rhinestone smile.

“Me too, father.”

The door shut closed with an inappropriately soft click.

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing was written and revised within 3 hours or so on a whim. I noticed that Reiju mentioned during WCI that she had been modified to be unable to disobey Judge, but didn't say anything about that when she was explaining the difference between her and her brothers in Sanji's flashback-- and thus, this fic was born. Besides, any excuse to write about Reiju is a good excuse. She's such a wonderfully complicated character, and I love writing in her perspective; I have another one in the works that is in Reiju's POV, actually. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
